The present invention relates to an improved detector for natural gas, and which is able to discriminate between natural gas (methane and ethane) and other sources of methane or other combustible gases, and is based on infrared light absorption of methane and ethane in combination with a non-specific combustible detector.
Natural gas service, distribution and pipeline companies need reliable, sensitive, rugged and economic detectors that are specific to natural gas. Conventional gas-leak detectors are either non-selective and thus respond to any combustible gas or else they are specific to hydrocarbon gases.
The present invention is designed to discriminate between low concentrations of natural gas (i.e. pipeline leaks) and other methane sources (i.e. swamp gas, petrochemical or automotive) by measuring the characteristic methane/ethane ratio of natural gas, as well as by utilizing a combustible gas sensor. This invention is based on infrared light absorption of methane and ethane in combination with another non-specific combustible gas detector whereby the apparatus has the ability to detect, non-specifically, the presence of a combustible gas, and to define the nature of the combustible gas.